


The Seven Year Itch (or Always wear Socks)

by Sokorra



Series: The Christmas Prompts 2017 [1]
Category: Smash (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-03 00:28:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13329654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sokorra/pseuds/Sokorra
Summary: Ivy has a realization and decides to act on it.





	The Seven Year Itch (or Always wear Socks)

**Author's Note:**

> set on Christmas Eve, 2018. Madison has just turned 5. (wow, its been 5 years since the show ended. Hard to believe its been so long)
> 
> Thanks to Ana for the beta'ing.

"Where are your socks?"  Ivy asked, spotting her daughter laying upside down on the couch, two small feet hanging sockless in the air.  Well, not quite in the air, as they rested against the back of the couch.  Still, it was Christmas eve, and it was cold enough that Maddie should be wearing socks.  The hardwood floors would be quite cool right now.

"Don't know" was what Ivy deciphered from the mumble that came around Maddison's chocolate pop, an early gift from Grandma Leigh.  She shook her head, moving on to the next room.  Maddie would learn sooner or later it was wiser to wear socks.  She found her boyfriend standing in the kitchen, reading through a new script.

"It's christmas Eve, you can take a break, you know." She teased him.  He looked up at her, amusement in his eyes. It amazed her sometimes how comfortable they had gotten with each other.  Sure, it had taken a while, but they seemed to have found their niche.  Found that place where they can be themselves and still be happy with each other.  

Her career was going well.  She had been nominated once again, although she had lost.  She had managed to, with the help of her mother, find a balance between work and motherhood.  Or at least she hoped she had.  

"I just wanted to get ahead with this new project Eileen has her heart set on."

"Oh?"

"A adaptation of The Odyssey based in Brooklyn."

"Really?"

"I don't understand it either. I'm hoping it's better than it sounds.  Eileen usually has pretty good taste."

"She does."  She leaned her head against his shoulder, and he responded by wrapping his arm around her. She watched him as he continued to read.  It dawned on her that this felt comfortable - normal even.  They had fallen into their own patterns.  She didn't feel that low level sense of anxiety, that this was about to collapse on her.

In fact, she hadn't felt it for a while now.  She felt steady in her work, steady in her relationship.  Hell, she and Karen had even formed a loose friendship.  Her daughter sat healthy and whole on the couch, despite the socklessness.  The only negative was that her and Derek's decision to have another child had fallen through.  After trying a year and a half they had finally given up, not wanting to risk putting her on the fertility drugs after what had happened to her years prior.  

"Marry Me."  The words were out of her mouth before she even realised she meant to say them.  She felt him tense before turning to look at her.  She didn't blame him, as he had asked her three times to marry him since they got back together.  The first time she knew was spur of the moment, and he hadn't really meant it.  But the second two were planned, and he had meant it.  But she hadn't been ready.  She had still felt like everything was going to teeter over at any moment.

And she didn't feel that way anymore.  She was ready.  She felt nervousness come over her, and she bit her lip while watching his reaction.  Maybe she was ready, but there was always the chance he decided he liked the way things were, and wouldn't want to get married.  She knew she would have to accept that - after all, he had accepted her refusals.  Perhaps she should have noticed that he hadn't given up on them.  After all, many relationships broke down after a rejection like that.  But he had stayed the course, and that realisation made her even more sure that she was finally ready to accept this as something permanent. 

"Don't ask that if you don't mean it."

"I mean it."   As they stood there, staring into each other's eyes she thought over the past five years.  To him holding her close as she told him about the baby.  The scare when they had lost Maddie's twin and weren't sure how to handle it.  The mess that was their family when they brought them all together.  The five years parenting the little girl on the couch.  The seven years in which she had loved him even when he didn't seem to want her to.

Life was messy, and you couldn't guarantee a happy ending.  But sometimes you just had to take the risk.

"I love you, and I know I may have taken a long time, but I'm ready if you are still interested."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."  He grinned then, pulling her closer into a kiss. The script was forgotten on the counter, and the background music of Captain Barnacles was ignored as he lifted her onto a barstool nearby, lessening the height difference, one of her flip flops falling on the floor.  The kiss was light, far from the passionate kiss she expected given his actions.  Still, she could feel the meaning in it.  

"Yeah."  She grinned at his answer, so sure.  Oddly simple.  Their relationship had always been complicated, so it seemed odd that their final decision to make that final step, one that maybe she should have made years ago, was so simple.

"Yeah."  She leaned into him, kissing him.  She loved this man, despite the fact that he had hurt her before.  She had hurt him.  They had a unique power to do so.  It had taken them five years, but they had worked through their issues.  Dealt with the infidelity that had broken them early on. Dealt with the fact that artistically they brought out the best and worst of each other.  Dealt with the rock bottoms they had both hit before they could actually see which way was up and which was down.

There was so much they had gotten past together.  

"Mom, Dad."  They broke apart to see their five year old daughter looking up at them like they were committing the most disgusting act.  It made Ivy want to laugh, but she hit it in Derek's shoulder.

"Yes, love?"  Derek answered, the small grin on his face saying he was resisting his own amusement at their daughter's displeasure at them kissing.  It had been amazing watching Derek adjusting to being a father.  He wasn't someone she had expected to be a natural at it, and they had both stumbled at first.  Madison adored her father though, and she could already tell that Maddie would always be her father's little princess.  It made her a little sad that there wouldn't be sibling for her, as it seemed their best production together was their children.  However after two years, she had simply given up on that dream.

Madison pulled her father away to help her change the channel on the television.  She wanted to watch Ladybug and Cat Noir now.  He turned around and looked at her, promising they would pick up where they left off later, when Maddie was asleep dreaming of Santa Claus arriving.  

She stepped down from her stool and hissed as her bare foot touched the cold floor.

She should have worn socks.

 


End file.
